Attack on Titan: Survey Corps
by Stinixoz
Summary: The story about the things that happened from the moment Petra joined the Survey Corps until the moment her story ended. This goes back one year before the Colossal Titan appeared. Find out how Petra first met Captain Levi, and how she wet her pants on her first mission...
1. Chapter 1: To New Beginnings

It's the year 844, a year before the Colossal Titan first appeared. Humanity still believes they're safe from the titans. The Garrison guards the walls, while the Survey Corps tries to discover more about the titans. Humanity hasn't had any success at discovering more about the titans, but they certainly won't simply give it up. Many are training to join the Survey Corps, not knowing how dangerous it really is.

The training was finally over. After training for such a long time, Petra Ral was relieved that she could finally join the scouts. She got the first place in the top 10 trainees of the year, with her friend Eld Jinn on the second place, her friend Gunther Schultz on the third place, and her best friend, who she knew since they were both little kids, Sebastian Boden on the fourth place. During the training she was very popular because of her charisma and her fighting skills. However, she didn't impress everyone. Oluo Bozado, who was on the fifth place in the top 10, kept claiming how his skills were better than Petra's. His friends, Philip Krauser and Adrian Kolb, agreed with him. Petra and Oluo often got into arguments during the training. Philip and Adrian both didn't make it to the top 10.

"Hello cadets. My name is Keith Shadis. You all agreed to join the Survey Corps, and we welcome you here. But if you think this will be an easy job, then leave now." Commander Shadis says. Everyone seems to be a bit nervous, except for Petra. She has a smile of confidence on her face. "Finally I can show them that I'm not useless..." She whispers to herself, thinking back to her life before she started the training. She notices that commander Shadis continued his speech. "Since you're all here, I will tell you your first mission. We will go outside the walls, and we will try to capture a titan. This won't be easy, but if we succeed we could learn more about them." Shadis says.

The next day, the new scouts are talking about the mission. "Our first mission, and they let us catch a titan. Do they really want us to die on the first mission?" Eld says. "I think they want us to know how dangerous this can be." Sebastian says. Petra shakes her head. "No." She says. "The citizens are hesitating to pay for the Survey Corps. This means we have to take bigger risks, because we can't have smaller missions anymore. Not until the citizens continue paying is, anyways." She says. "I guess that's true..." Sebastian says. He seems disappointed. He hoped that they wouldn't give them such a dangerous assignment as their first one.

"Sebastian! Petra! So you two joined the scouts after all!" Someone screams at Petra and Sebastian. Petra looks, and she sees her old friend Stefan Rorer running towards them. "Stefan! Long time no see!" Sebastian says. Petra, Sebastian and Stefan used to be the closest friends when they were younger, but since Stefan joined the Survey Corps a year before them, they hadn't seen him. "I'm glad you're alive." Petra says, laughing. "You know me, I don't like to die." Stefan says. "And who are you two?" Stefan asks to Eld and Gunther. "I'm Gunther Schultz, and my friend here is Eld Jinn." Gunther says. "Nice to meet you! I'm Stefan Rorer." Stefan says.

"So, did you make it to the top 10?" Stefan asks to Petra and Sebastian. "Yeah, I even got first place." Petra says, smiling. Stefan is impressed. The year before, Stefan just barely made it onto the tenth place, and Petra got to the first place. Stefan knew that the little girl who he knew long ago was gone. She wanted to show what she was capable of. Suddenly, another scout calls for Stefan, so he runs towards the scout. "You know, guys... I really hope none of us will die." Gunther jokes, but secretly he means it. They all knew this could be the last conversation they ever had with each other. "Well, I certainly won't go down without a fight." Petra says.

"You better won't." Commander Shadis says. He walks to the new scouts. He sees that they're nervous for their mission, and he wants to comfort them. "You'll be in the safest position there is, the middle. While the scouts in the front catch the titan, you will have to make sure it stays on the ground. The scouts on the outside will fight off any titan who's approaching." Shadis says. This comforts the group. They thought their chance at surviving was way bigger now.

Meanwhile, Philip and Adrian are stressing out. "We shouldn't have followed you into the Survey Corps, Oluo! We will die trying to capture a titan! I don't want to get eaten, Oluo!" Philip says to Oluo. Oluo seems calm somehow. Philip and Adrian have no clue how he could stay so calm, considering that he might die. "Well, you could've joined the Garrison, but you would be a coward." Oluo says. Philip and Adrian are shocked. "You don't really think that, right? The Garrison isn't full of cowards!" Adrian says. "Well, considering the fact that you two are here, I'm beginning to think that the Survey Corps may be getting filled with some cowards." Oluo says. Adrian and Philip realize that he is serious. They never saw him like this. "Look, I also don't want to die, but I won't guard some walls that won't ever break for the rest of my life!" Oluo says. Adrian starts to think about.

"You're right. We wanted the action, and now we have it." Adrian says. Philip is shocked. "You don't really think that, right, Adrian? We're going to die out here!" Philip says. He is stressing out. "If you don't want to help, then don't. But then you have to accept the consequences." Oluo says. Oluo seems very sure about fighting outside of the walls. "Why do you always want to be the hero, Oluo?" Philip says. He is angry at Oluo. He is blaming him for dragging him into the Survey Corps. Oluo looks at Philip, and he hits him in the face. "You're a coward, Philip!" Oluo says. "No." Philip says. "I'm a realist."

After a couple of days it is time. They will go outside of the walls, and they will catch a titan. The scouts leave on horses. The gates open, and they see large green fields. They get in their formation, and they look for any titans. "Do you see any titans?" Sebastian asks Petra. According to the position they had in the strategy, they had to ride their horses next to each other. Petra shakes her head. "No, I don't. Shouldn't we've seen one by now?" Petra says. She has a strange feeling about this. Oluo rides his horse in front of Petra and Sebastian, while Eld, Philip and Adrian ride behind them. They ride their horses into a small forest, with only a couple of trees. Suddenly, the signal is given in the front. A titan is coming.

"Here we go!" Sebastian says. Oluo, who was confident about this all the time, suddenly starts shaking. "Oh god, what have I gotten myself into..." He whispers to himself. None of the scouts in the center saw the titan yet. "I suppose that it's a small one." Eld says, to comfort Philip and Adrian, who are both shaking. Petra looks to her left, and she sees another signal. "There's another titan approaching from the left!" She screams to the others. Another signal is given. "There are multiple titans approaching from the left! Do they need our help?" Petra asks to the others. Sebastian shakes his head. "The scouts on the outside are trained well. They know how to handle this." Sebastian says.

Meanwhile, on the left side of the formation, Stefan sees three titans approaching. "One of them is an abnormal!" Stefan screams to his comrades. Will Bickell, one of the comrades, gives the signal. Shadis now knows that an abnormal is approaching. He gives the signal, and the formation changes. They all go towards the abnormal, and they take him out together. Suddenly Stefan gets scared. "The abnormal, he is taking a turn, into that big forest over there!" Stefan says, pointing towards a huge forest. "Maybe it got scared!" Will says. Stefan disagrees. He thinks the titan is luring them into a trap.

Petra looks scared. "What's wrong, Petra?" Sebastian asks. "Stefan is on the left of the formation, and they saw an abnormal out there. What if-" Petra gets interrupted by Sebastian. "Don't think like that. Stefan knows how to handle himself." Sebastian says. "Let's just hope that you're right, because otherwise we're in a lot of trouble." Oluo says. The scouts are entering the huge forest. "This doesn't seem like a good idea!" Petra says. "That's because it isn't! Why isn't Shadis telling us to get the hell out of here?" Sebastian says.

When the abnormal was seen on the left side, the left side changed to the front, causing the front to become the right side. A titan was still approaching Shadis' side, but they ignored it. Captain Levi, who was riding his horse on the right side of Shadis, finds this a bad idea. "Commander Shadis, we shouldn't go into the forest. We can't see the titans coming. And the titan that is chasing us must be taken care of before he gets one of the new scouts." Levi says to Shadis. Shadis doesn't react. "Commander?" Levi asks. He looks at the commanders face, and he sees that Shadis isn't sure what to do. "We must capture a titan if we ever want to know how we can get rid of them all..." Shadis says.

"I can't see the abnormal anywhere anymore!" Will says. This frightens Stefan. If they lost sight of their target, then they became the target. "Those other two titans can also be a pain in the ass." Stefan says. Suddenly, a regular titan approaches from Will's left side, and he grabs him off the horse. Stefan stops the horse as fast as he can. His face freezes. He watches as Will gets put on the titan's tongue, and as the titan eats him. Stefan uses his Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear to get into a tree, from where he can attack the titan's weak spot. He is about to jump the titan, but then he sees the abnormal running towards him.

"You won't get me, you piece of shit!" Stefan screams at the two titans. The abnormal hits himself against the tree, so Stefan falls out of it. Stefan uses his 3DMG to get a grip on the tree, but the abnormal grabs him by his legs. He starts screaming for help, but the scouts who were in the center are too far away. The titan puts Stefan in his mouth, and he bites him into two pieces. The upper part of his body drops on the ground, while the titan takes the other part down his stomach.


	2. Chapter 2: Appetite for Humanity

The scouts who were protecting the left side of the formation, Viktor Baar and Moses Grebel, come across the body of Stefan. "He was eaten by a titan... They're near." Viktor says. "Give the signal to the others! We might need backup, since that other guy probably got eaten too." Moses says. Viktor gives the signal. Moses looks at Stefan. He and Stefan became friends when Stefan joined the trainees. Moses gets on his knees, and he closes Stefan's eyes. "Rest in peace, buddy..." Moses says to Stefan.

Captain Levi sees the signal. "We need to hurry, Shadis! They can't capture that abnormal without our help!" Levi says to Shadis. Shadis nods. "And Levi..." Shadis begins. Levi looks at his commander. "If we can't capture the titan, don't hesitate to kill it. We know for certain that it killed at least one of our men today, I don't want it to kill more." Shadis says. Levi nods. "The new scouts are most likely nearing the titans right now. We have to hurry up if we don't want them to get eaten." Levi says. Shadis is shocked. If a single one of the new scouts died, then the others would want to resign from the Survey Corps as fast as they could. He had to stop them from getting such thoughts.

Petra sees the signal. Someone died. This scared Petra. "It...It's coming from Stefan's position in the formation..." She says. Sebastian looks at Petra. "Stefan knows how this works. He is capable of this!" Sebastian says, but secretly he also fears that Stefan is dead. Their horses are nearing the location of the signal. Only a couple hundred meters left. The group was very scared of what was going to happen. Their horses ride through the forest. "Look around you, a titan could be anywhere!" Oluo says. This frightens Philip and Adrian. They arrive at the location. They see the scouts Viktor and Moses standing by the upper part of Stefan's body.

"No! Please, tell me this is all just a nightmare!" Petra says. She is crying. From that moment she realized that they were here to die. There was no way that they would survive the titans. After all, none of the new scouts ever saw a titan. When they signed up they had no idea of how dangerous the titans really were. Sebastian looks traumatized. Tears stream down his eyes. "My god..." Adrian says. He didn't know Stefan, but the sight of his dead body still frightened him. Then Viktor hears something coming at them quickly. "Get in the trees... now!" Viktor says.

Suddenly, the abnormal appears again. He kicks Philip, and he falls to the ground. He is still alive, but he can barely breathe. The others use their 3DMG to get into the trees. The abnormal tries to grab them, but he can't reach them. Petra was too frightened to use her gear. "You... you monster! You killed my friend!" She yells at the titan. The titan looks at her. "Get in the trees, Petra!" Sebastian yells. The titan bends forwards, to grab Petra, but Oluo takes his chance. He goes to the back of the neck of the titan, and he kills the titan. The titan falls down. Petra dives away from the titan, but it falls on the head of Philip. He is dead.

"Philip... No!" Adrian screams. His friend died in front of him. Oluo takes a look to see if Philip could've survived it, but he sees the blood lying underneath the arm of the titan. His head was squashed. Oluo looks afraid. Suddenly, he bursts out in tears. "I did this to him! I killed Philip!" He says, while crying. Eld grabs Oluo by his shoulders. "You took his pain away. He would be thankful for that!" Eld says. This comforts Oluo. Petra was still in shock. Stefan and Philip were gone, and she knew she would be next. "We should get out of here. There could be more titans." Moses says. Petra uses her 3DMG to get in the trees, and they start moving through the trees.

"The strategy we used was terrible. Shadis should've thought this through better." Oluo says, while they are moving through the trees. "That's the point: Shadis didn't come up with this strategy. The Survey Corps is in need of money for supplies, and the king offered us a lot of supplies in exchange for his men making a strategy. That royal bastard thought that his men would come up with better strategies." Viktor says. Oluo looks surprised. He didn't expect the Survey Corps to agree to that, but apparently they did. "By the way, you might need to look down." Viktor says, while laughing softly. Oluo looks down, and he sees he wet his pants. He looks shocked and embarrassed. "Please don't tell anyone!" Oluo says.

They are still travelling through the trees, looking for an abnormal to capture. Petra looks traumatized, while Sebastian tries to calm her. "Please don't die too, Sebastian..." Petra says to Sebastian. She is crying. Sebastian looks at her. "I won't." Sebastian promises her. Then they see a signal. "They spotted another abnormal. Let's avenge Stefan by capturing it!" Sebastian says. Petra nods, and they go towards the signal.

Viktor gave the signal. He and Oluo came across three titans who were walking on the ground. Two of them were regulars and one of them was an abnormal. "We can't capture him with those other two titans around." Viktor says. Oluo would love to kill them, but he knew that if he acted too soon he would be killed. "So what's the plan?" Oluo asks. "The commander must've seen our signal too. They are coming. We should attack them with the entire squad. If we do that, we could succeed without any casualties." Viktor says. Oluo understands.

Then Petra and Sebastian arrive. Viktor explains his plan. "There is no time! We need to hurry up, before more people die!" Sebastian says. "If we hurry up, then more people will die. If we wait for backup, then we're safe." Viktor says. Sebastian disagrees. "We disobeyed orders. They won't just let us off the hook. If we want to get away with this without getting punished then we need to capture it before they do." Sebastian says. Viktor understands how he thinks, but he disagrees with Sebastian. "The Survey Corps won't punish you for doing the right thing." Viktor says.

"The right thing is to kill them. They took Stefan..." Sebastian says. He looks down at the titans. They killed one of his best friends. He wanted them dead. He grabs his blades, and he jumps down, at the neck of one of the regulars. "Die, you bastard!" Sebastian yells. Petra, Viktor and Oluo are shocked. "Get back here!" Petra yells. "It's too dangerous!" Oluo yells. But it's too late. He used his 3DMG to get to the back of the neck of the titan. He is about to kill it, but then the abnormal smashes Sebastian off the regular. In only a matter of seconds the abnormal had Sebastian in his hands. Petra has never been so afraid. She lost one of her best friends today, and she was about to lose the other one. She couldn't move.

"We have to get down there and safe him!" Oluo says to Viktor. Viktor shakes his head, while looking shocked. "We would die too... Sebastian is already gone." Viktor says. The three saw how the abnormal put Sebastian in his mouth. Sebastian looked at Petra. He was so afraid. He didn't want to die yet. He was crying. Petra wanted to help him, but she couldn't move her legs. "Why am I just standing here? Why can't I save him?" She thought to herself. Her cheeks were covered with tears. "Don't go..." She whispers, while the titan closes its mouth, and breaks Sebastian's skull in two pieces.

Suddenly Petra snapped. "No! You monster! Go to hell!" She screamed. She used her 3DMG to get to the neck of a regular, but the abnormal is too quick. He grabs her, and he is about to eat her. She accepts her fate. She lost her best friends today, and now she would die too. She was never able to prove her family that she wasn't useless. But now they had to accept the sorrow. She would die today. She didn't struggle. The titan was about to put her in his mouth when his arm was suddenly cut off. The arm dropped on the ground, and Petra was free from it. The arm started dissolving.

Now she was on the ground, surrounded by three titans. One of the titans fell to the ground, and she finally saw her saviour. It was captain Levi. He offers her a hand, and he takes her back to the tree. She survived. In the trees she saw that they were joined by commander Shadis, squad leader Mike Zacharius, Eld and Adrian. "Never try such a thing ever again." Captain Levi said. Petra saw that captain Levi was very strict. "You saved me..." She says. "Yes, and make sure I don't have to save you again." Levi says. "Now, let's capture that abnormal."


	3. Chapter 3: Changing Tides

Two titans were still walking: a regular and an abnormal. Levi just took out one of the two regulars. It was dissolving on the ground. The group looked down at the titans, and they came up with a strategy. One scout would blind the titan, while the other kills it. The other titan would be blinded, and his legs would be cut off so he would drop to the ground. Petra was prepared to avenge Sebastian, but Levi didn't allow that. She was stressing too much, and it could put them in danger. "Please remember that you're dealing with an abnormal. His actions can be unexpected." Shadis says to the group. Adrian and Oluo would kill the regular, while Viktor and Levi would capture the abnormal.

"Listen up, scouts! I don't want any more casualties!" Shadis says. The four scouts nod. Shadis wasn't sure if it was a good idea to let two new scouts take out a regular, but Levi convinced him that it wouldn't be a problem. They prepare to do it. The titans are both looking up, at the scouts. Viktor would blind the abnormal, and Oluo would blind the regular. If they made a single mistake, then they would get eaten. "Are you ready?" Shadis asks the two scouts. They nod. "Attack!" Shadis says. The two scouts launch their 3DMG at the titans, while holding their blades to blind them.

Oluo puts the two blades in the eyes of the regular titan. The titan hits its eyes with his hands, but Oluo jumps away. Viktor, however, wasn't that successful. The abnormal suddenly opens his mouth, and Viktor gets in the mouth of the abnormal. "We need to save him!" Adrian says. Shadis gives Adrian the sign to kill the regular. Adrian uses his 3DMG to get at the neck of the titan, and he kills it. Then he looks at the abnormal. Viktor is trying to climd out of its mouth. Adrian doesn't want to see Viktor die, but there is no time to save him. That's when captain Levi kills the abnormal.

Shadis is shocked. Levi was supposed to capture the titan, not kill it. The abnormal falls to the ground, and he dissolves. Suddenly Viktor is just sitting in a titan skeleton. "I actually survived that?" Viktor asks himself. He is surprised. He thought he just had his last moments. Shadis gets down to the ground. He walks towards Levi. Shadis is angry. "Why didn't you follow your commands?" Shadis asks. Levi hits Shadis in the face. Shadis looks angrier than ever. "What do you think you're doing?!" He yells at Levi. "I saved one of our men." Levi says calmly. Shadis didn't expect such an answer. He wasn't used to Levi disobeying orders.

"The strategy we had didn't work. From now on we don't agree to strategies in exchange for supplies. The mission failed." Levi says. This shocks Petra. "So Sebastian and Stefan died for nothing? I can't accept that, captain!" Petra says. Levi looks at Petra. Suddenly he looks down. "You're right." Levi says. Petra is surprised by this answer. "We lost a few men today. They won't die in vain. The least we could do is try to capture an abnormal one more time." Levi says. Suddenly he grabs Petra by her shoulders. "But if there is another casualty, then that's on you." He says seriously.

Petra is shocked. If someone else died, then it would be because of her. Could she live with that? She thinks about it for a moment. Then she remembers how the abnormal ate Sebastian and how she didn't do anything. "If we can't capture it, then we can kill it. We're doing the world a favor by killing one more abnormal." Petra says. She wasn't planning on capturing a titan. She wanted to kill one. She wanted a titan to be punished by her for what happened to Sebastian and Stefan. But she wasn't the only one who truly wanted to kill another titan. Oluo saw how Philip died by the titan that fell on him when Oluo killed it. Oluo felt responsible for killing Philip, but he tried to keep his mind on other things.

"Petra..." Oluo says. "Yes?" Petra answers. She was curious what Oluo was about to say. "You might want to get another pair of trousers." Oluo says, laughing. Petra looks down, and she sees that she wet her pants. "Both of you did." Eld says. "This will make a good story for sure!" Eld says, jokingly. "No! Please promise us that you'll keep it a secret!" Petra asks Eld. She gets why people are finding it funny, but she feels embarrassed, and so does Oluo. Eld agrees to keep it secret. While they are looking for another abnormal they are joined by multiple scouts. Gunther, Joseph Breguet and Swen Hönigsberg join the group. They are now with more than enough people to take out quite an amount of titans.

"Where is Sebastian?" Gunther asks Petra while they are travelling through the trees, looking for an abnormal. Petra looks down. "He is gone." She says. A tear drops from her eye. Gunther is shocked. He didn't expect anyone to get killed during this mission, but he had no idea that when the death signal was given that it was Sebastian. Or could it've been someone else? Did someone else die during the mission? "Are there more casualties?" Gunther asks. He knows he has to be careful. If he asks the wrong questions then Petra could get emotional. "Yes, there were..." Petra says. "Stefan and Philip died too..." This shocks Gunther a lot. Three people died. He knew all three of them.

"It wasn't your fault, Petra." Gunther says, to comfort Petra. He sees that she's crying. "I didn't do anything when he died..." She says. Gunther looks at Petra. "What do you mean?" He asks. Petra looks at Gunther. She is crying. "I was watching when Sebastian got eaten and I didn't do anything..." Petra says. Gunther is shocked. He doesn't understand it. Why didn't she do anything? Her best friend got eaten in front of her and she did nothing? Why? Gunther didn't know how to react, so he just stayed quiet. Petra suddenly sees a titan lying against a tree like a dog. "Is it an abnormal?" Petra asks Gunther. "Who cares? Let's just kill the bastard!" Gunther says. Petra agrees. She grabs all her courage together. They give the signal.

"Now that captain Levi is with us we have a huge advantage. I wouldn't count on anyone else dying from now on." Gunther says. "We don't need Levi for this guy. It will be dead before they arrive." Petra says. She is confident that she will succeed. Petra looks at the titan. "This guy's a 7 meter class. Could be tough, considering those other guys were smaller." She says. "But I'll kill it nonetheless." She adds to the sentence. She gets her blades out. The titan didn't know that they were there yet. Suddenly it stood up. It walked differently. It used its hands to walk too, instead of only his legs. It was an abnormal.

"This guy must be retarded, look how he walks." Gunther says. This gives Petra confidence. "That'll just make it easier." She says. She uses her 3DMG to get to the neck of the titan. He suddenly looks up and opens his mouth, but Petra gets the hook on its back. Now she is standing on the back of the titan. It decided to stand up straight, but it didn't work quite well. Petra nearly fell off it's back, but she hooks herself to the titan's neck. Gunther uses his blades to cut the legs of the titan. It falls to the ground, screaming. It is smashing the back of its neck to try to kill Petra, but it doesn't work. Petra is holding her blades at the neck of the titan, but the titan finally succeeds to smash her off her back.

"Petra! Are you allright?" Gunther asks. Petra stands up, and she nods. Gunther sees blood on her knee. Petra uses the 3DMG to get back on the titan's back again, but he tries to bite her while doing it. She escapes the mouth of the titan. Before she goes to kill the titan, she decides to cut off its hands, just to make it suffer before it dies. She knows his legs could regenerate at any moment, but she wanted it to suffer. Petra cuts off the left hand. "This one's for Stefan!" She says. Gunther cuts off the right hand. The titan screams it out. Petra goes to the back of the titan. She holds her blade over his neck. She slowly inserts the blade into his neck, and he screams it out. "And this one's for Sebastian." She says, while wiping a tear.

The others arrive. Levi looks down at the dissolving titan, then he looks at Petra. "I suppose that you got what you wanted. Now, lets go back." Levi says. Petra is smiling again. She nods, and they get back to their horses. The formation unites again, but this time to get back to the walls. They finally realize that Will Bickell is also missing. "He must've died together with Stefan..." Eld says. It was a sad day. They didn't capture a titan, and they lost four men. The new recruits knew that their lives would always be at risk. Oluo and Petra wet their pants that day, and that was enough proof for them to show that it wasn't as safe as they thought. Death was around every corner. Petra killed a titan to avenge Stefan and Sebastian, but now the hardest part came: she had to tell their parents that they died. And for what? For nothing. They got not a little bit further with the research. They died for nothing.


	4. Chapter 4: The Fallen Roses

The group is nearing the walls. Shadis gives the signal to break the formation. The bodies of Philip and Stefan were taken with them. They deserved a proper funeral. Sebastian and Will were both devoured completely, so they couldn't be brought with them. Oluo has changed. When he left he was confident that it wouldn't be that hard as long as you tried your best. Now he knew that he was wrong. Philip died because of him. They enter the Shiganshina District. A crowd is standing at the side of the path. They see people who see the scouts as heroes, and those who see them as scum.

Petra looks at the crowd. People were actually still supporting the Survey Corps. Petra sees a little girl looking at her. The girl looks like she's seeing her idol. Petra smiles back at her. Next to the girl she sees a man who looks angry. "These bastards are where our money goes to!" He yells. Petra looks at the man. He is convinced that the Survey Corps isn't worth paying. This makes Petra angry, but she decides to ignore it. She rides her horse to captain Levi. "Captain?" She begins. Levi looks at Petra with his serious look. "I wanted to thank you for saving my life." She says. "You should be a bit more careful with your life." Levi says. Petra is a bit embarrassed. "Heh, I suppose you're right." She says.

"You know, they say many things about you. How you're humanity's best soldier... but also that you're emotionless." Petra says. Levi looks a bit surprised. He knew that he was strict, but hearing that he had such a reputation wasn't the best news. "And I completely disagree with that." Petra says. Levi doesn't understand. "You barely know me. How could you know?" He asks. "Simple." She begins. "You could've ended the mission after we failed at capturing the abnormal, but you let me have my revenge first." She says. Levi understands. "It won't happen again." Levi says. "Well, I certainly hope so. It would really suck if more of my friends died." Petra jokes. Levi looks way too serious, like always.

They slowly ride their horses towards the next gate. The young Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman are standing in the crowd, looking at the scouts who are passing through. Eld and Gunther are having a conversation. "Who will tell Sebastian's parents that he died?" Gunther asks. Eld raises his shoulders. "Most likely commander Shadis." He says. "But I suppose that Petra will take it as her burden." He adds to it. Eld feels bad for Petra. She thought that the deaths of Sebastian and Stefan were her fault. The new scouts changed since the first mission. They faced death itself. Some of the new scouts didn't see any titans at all on that day, but others saw their friends getting devoured by them.

They arrive at the second gate. It opens, and now they have to travel through 100 kilometers of wasteland. There was nothing there except for trees and a couple of villages. They stop halfway trough to let the horses rest for a moment. They're in a small village, with only eight buildings. Petra stays with her horse. She doesn't feel like talking to anyone. She was thinking how she was going to tell the parents of Sebastian and Stefan that their children were dead. She knew that the commander of the Survey Corps would usually tell those things, but she felt like it had to be her.

She thought back at that terrible moment. How the abnormal broke Sebastian's skull with its teeth. She looked down at her fist. She started crying. Suddenly she looked up, angrily. "We will kill them all, Sebastian... I swear!" She says. She got the courage to continue. She knew that she wouldn't resign now. She wanted to spend the rest of her life fighting the titans. She wanted to kill those who took her friends. She promised herself to avenge Sebastian and Stefan. "Captain Shadis told me to hand you a new pair of pants. According to him the citizens won't see us as heroes if we wet our pants during the expedition." Oluo says. He gives Petra a new pair of pants. "They're never going to forget this, right?" Petra jokes. Oluo laughs softly. Then his face gets sad again.

"We both lost close friends, Petra. I know how you're feeling right now." Oluo says. Petra is surprised. She didn't expect Oluo to be like this. He was always bragging about his skills with the 3DMG, but suddenly he was like this. "You're not going to resign, are you?" Oluo asks to Petra. Petra shakes her head. "Great, because we'll need quite some soldiers to kill all the titans." Oluo jokes. "During our training you were always bragging, what's going on?" Petra asks, smiling. "I'm pretty sure that we all changed today." Oluo answers. "But don't worry, I won't stop bragging." Oluo jokes. Petra laughs. They are both quiet for a moment. "Adrian is going to resign." Oluo says. Petra looked shocked. One of Adrian's best friends died, and he was just going to back out.

"He can't do that!" Petra says. "I tried to convince him, but he won't listen." Oluo says. Petra looks down. She understood that Adrian would want to resign, but she thought that he would try to kill more titans before resigning. "He's a coward." Oluo says. Petra gets a little bit mad. "He's afraid, Oluo! Aren't we all afraid?" Petra says. They are quiet for a moment. "Captain Levi isn't." Oluo says. Petra disagrees. "Captain Levi is afraid too. Look in his eyes, and you can see that he is in pain. He must've gone through so much in his life." Petra says. "Not that hard to go through things when you're that small, things like a mouse hole." Oluo says, jokingly, since Levi is pretty short.

"Hurry up." Captain Levi says. He is walking towards Petra and Oluo. Oluo is shocked. Did captain Levi hear what he said about him? "Captain Levi! We were just talking abou-" Oluo says. Levi interrupts him. "Change your pants in the stable. We're leaving." Levi says. Petra nods. Meanwhile, the others are already sitting on their horses. Petra and Oluo join the group, and they leave the village. While they are riding their horses towards the Trost District, Petra joins Levi. "Captain Levi?" Petra begins. Levi looks at Petra. "I wanted to ask if I could be the one to bring Sebastian and Stefan's parents the news." She asks. Levi looks at Petra. He isn't certain about what he should say. He knew that she was very emotional, and that she was traumatized by their deaths, but he also knew that it could help her to get over them, so she could move on from that traumatizing moment.

"Yes, that's allright. I will tell commander Shadis." Levi says. Petra smiles. "Thanks, captain. You're the best!" She says, while she rides her horse to the back again. Levi rides his horse towards commander Shadis, and he tells him about it. Shadis agrees with it. "How will the king react to the fact that his strategy was terrible?" Shadis asks to captain Levi. "Every strategy we've used in the past years has failed. We haven't caught a titan for such a long period of time. Hange needs a titan for her research, but how do we know if it'll even be successful?" Levi says. Shadis never thought about that. He assumed that if they caught a titan they would immediately have a huge advantage, but they didn't. "You're right, Levi. We're risking too much." Shadis says. "That's not what I meant." Levi says. Shadis surprised. What did Levi mean?

They arrive in the Trost District. They are welcomed by another crowd. Petra doesn't see Sebastian's parents anywhere, but she sees Stefan's parents. They are cheering. They didn't know yet. Petra looked at Levi, and he nodded. Petra rode her horse towards them. She got off her horse, and she slowly walked towards them. Stefan's parents were suddenly a bit scared. Petra told them the news. Stefan's parents started crying, and so did Petra. After staying with them for a couple of minutes, Petra rides her horse to the group again. They finally get off their horses. "Go to your families, and tell them you're allright!" Shadis says. Most of the people nod.

Petra goes to her parents. She is crying. "We're here for you now, Petra. Just tell us what happened." Petra's father says. Petra tells him everything. "You killed a titan? You did?" Petra's mother says. She looks so proud of her daughter. Petra gets a small smile on her face. Her parents didn't think she was useless anymore, like they did before. She hugs both of them. "I'm so glad you're alive, Petra..." Petra's father says before she leaves. She smiles at her father, and walks away. She finally sees Sebastian's parents. Petra walks towards them, and she asks them to sit down on the bench.

"Sebastian didn't make it..." Petra says. She starts crying again, and so do Sebastian's parents. "Please tell me that he did a good job..." Sebastian's mother asks. "He did... We killed multiple titans with the courage he gave us." Petra says. The parents are crying. "I will avenge Sebastian. I will kill the titans, even if it costs me my life!" Petra adds to it. This gives Sebastian's parents a bit of confidence. They knew that he didn't die for nothing. His death gave Petra the courage to continue. They knew she would become one of humanity's greatest warriors one day. Meanwhile, a man walks towards commander Shadis. "The Utopia District needs help from the Survey Corps. They need you right now."


End file.
